Grateful

At church there is an older lady (probably in her 80's) who walks with the help of a walker. Every Sunday she comes prepared with dum dums to hand out to little children. Gracie loves her and looks for her every Sunday after nursery. A few weeks ago she stood and bore her testimony and said something like, "When you get to be my age you just appreciate everything so much and thank God for every day and every moment that you have." As she said that I thought, "NO. That's not just an automatic thing that happens when you turn a certain age, it is a decision and something that you can decide to start at any time in life."

That said, here is what I am most thankful for (in no particular order):
1)Justin
2) Gracie
3) Baby #2
4) The gospel
5)My family
6) Justin's family
7) A great ward
8) A nice place to live
9)Good health
10) An education
11)Great friends
12) Utah

I could obviously go on, but these are the main things that I've been thinking about. Keep your eyes open for more posts about our Thanksgiving weekend.

Subcutaneous

Yesterday, we were lucky to have Justin around most of the day while he studied for a test. I'm proud to say that I was even pretty good about actually letting him study and not trying to get him to stop and play or making him pay attention to me :). Gracie did a pretty good job too, but did like climbing up onto Justin's lap. It was cute to hear her study Immunology with Justin:
J: Can you say subcutaneous?
G: Subcutaneous
J: Red Blood Cells
G: Wed bud sows

I guess I need to brush up on my immunology because I can't remember any of the other words he asked her to repeat. There is something totally sweet and unnatural about hearing a two year old say words that they should not know yet (don't worry, we've been holding off on the swear words). Anyway, we love Justin and try to soak up the moments that he is at home.

My love hate relationship

What is it with, you ask? SURPRISES!!!
Every year that I can remember, my nanny (paternal grandmother) would call my sister Mary and me into her room and show us what she was going to give us for Christmas. Christmas was always a long ways away, but I think she just had a really hard time keeping all of those surprises to herself. I remember always loving the gifts- usually awesome things like bracelet watches from the home shopping channel, jewelry, or other amazing little treasures. Anyway, I've found that I suffer from the same problem (not the home shopping channel problem). I can hardly stand waiting until Christmas to give away the treasures I have found or have been making.

On the other hand, I really like being surprised and think it is sometimes sad when you already know everything that is coming to you for Christmas. So... I've decided to stay strong. No posting pictures on my craft blog, no hints, and for sure...no sneak peaks. But just out of curiosity- who is really good at surprising people? Does the suspense overwhelm you, like it does me? Christmas is over a month away and I can't believe I'm already having this conversation (is it a conversation if it's a blog post?).

P.S. I do want to clarify though, that I'm really only bad at keeping my own surprises a surprise (please don't take me off the invitation list to all surprise parties).

Leaf it to Gracie

Gracie and I raked up some leaves on Friday. We had about a million leaves in our yard, so we didn't really see a ton of progress but we did have a ton of fun.
Gracie kept insisting that it was her turn to rake. Here she is doing her thing.

I thought it would be fun to throw her in some leaves until she totally disappeared- oops. This picture was after she had worked her way out a little bit.

This is our little cutie. She kept posing for a glamour shot in the leaves. I guess she knew she was irresistable.

Not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach

***I was serious in my title. Just a warning before you read this.***
HAVE YOU EVER FOUND SOMETHING GROSS IN YOUR FOOD?

THIS IS WHAT WE FOUND IN CHIP'S WATER THIS MORNING. YUCK.
I wish I had something in the picture that would help convey the size- a HUGE dead squirrel. Lucky for me, Justin found it first and dumped out all the water and got the squirrel out. Poor Chip. Poor Squirrel.

For those interested

***IN CASE ANY OF YOU ARE NEEDING A NEW DRESS FOR THE HOLIDAYS OR JUST BECAUSE***


Shabby Apple Dress Party! Come enjoy a fabulous morning of dress shopping! Fun, flirty, sophisticated and sassy styles to choose from (with baby dresses and accessories to boot)!

We promise to have yummy food, great music and a hallway of those mirrors that make you look skinny in anything you're wearing.

Can't make it? Enjoy a free shipping code: LeBaronNeedsDress
Date:
November 8th, 2008, 10am - 2pm
Location:
LeBaron Home
Address:
2991 Juliet Way
SLC, UT 84121 (map)

Don't Forget

I hope that everyone reading this has either already voted or is planning on going to the polls today. I also hope that I'll be able to sleep at night if Obama gets elected. But... no matter who you are voting for, I think it is important for us to exercise the gift of choosing our leaders and having a say in important matters. There was an amendment to the Colorado state constitution that I just voted for last Thursday. They are trying to write into the state constitution that someone is considered a person from the moment of fertilization. If this passes, they may be able to stop abortions in the state of Colorado. I was happy to see this legislation and it made me think of all of the important issues out there for us to vote on.

Tonight will be a real nail biter as we wait for the election results. I think I might let Justin and Gracie vote on what we should eat for dessert. I also might let them vote on what leftovers they want :)

Rise and Shout!

On Saturday, Justin took Jeff, Camille, and Kim to the Walker Mower Plant on the other side of town.

We went to the BYU vs. CSU game. It was a close game in the end, so we were glad that BYU pulled through in the end. Gracie was so good and kept asking to sit with Jeff.

Family picture. GO COUGARS!!!

More cougar fans.

Aunt Kim got Gracie this super cute shirt for her birthday. They made cute twinners. I have the same matching shirt as Kim so I'm looking forward to being Gracie's twin when I don't have a pregnant belly.

Halloween Love

Here is Gracie's costume before we left to a downtown Halloween party (we went trick or treating to stores downtown and then to a little dance party with hot chocolate and cookies).


This is Gracie and Justin at the trunk or treat. Justin was told by a friend that his costume was really scary (he was actually dressed to go to the BYU football team fireside at our stake center). Gracie caught on to the trick or treating thing really fast.

Jeff, Kim, and Camille got into town after the trunk or treat and the party continued. This is probably the best pic I have of my halloween costume. I was prego sauce.
This is Gracie the princess turned into a rodeo princess with Camille and Jeff.

And here we are eating at five guys burger and fries. We had a really fun time.